Frank Pellico showed no signs that his final night tickling the keyboards as the Chicago Blackhawks’ organist was plucking at his heartstrings.
“I’m more antsy,” he told the Tribune moments before Sunday’s home game against the Toronto Maple Leafs.
Shortly afterward, colleagues and fans streamed into the organ room to extend congratulations on his decision to retire after 33 years.
It was all about Pellico: During an intermission, he played Robert Johnson’s “Sweet Home Chicago” and The Champs’ “Tequila.”
But during an ovation from fans and a stick-tap tribute from players during a first-period break at the United Center, Pellico could be seen wiping away tears on the big video board, with balloons spelling out “33” behind him.
Pellico was finally hanging up his No. 61 Hawks jersey — 61, for the number of keys on a standard organ.
Carrie Marcotte, Pellico’s understudy and partner since the 2018-19 season, will take over.
“Next month, I’m going to be 84,” said Pellico, a resident of Palos Hills. “And my whole life has been devoted to the hockey game here, and sports, and I just keep thinking to myself: When do you say you want to relax and not have to drive and get out in a cold wind? So, we’ve been talking about it for a while, and the decision has been made.
“It’s time to pass the baton. So we did.”
Even stationed far above the ice, current and former Hawks will remember his impact.
“What a career,” said Hawks interim coach Anders Sorensen, who wanted to talk about Pellico before taking any questions about the game. “Give him a lot of credit, that’s a lot of games, and that’s just awesome.”
Former Hawk and current Hawks analyst Troy Murray said, “Thirty-three years is quite an accomplishment, and I think that the Hawks have been very lucky to have Nancy Faust before, and then Frank. The old Chicago Stadium, the old organ loft, it was pretty incredible. It was special.”
Murray praised Pellico’s dedication.
“Even when he was having some health problems, (he’d) always come down here to make sure that he was a part of the (opening) of the games. And I have a ton of respect for him. I’ve known him for a long time, and I’m really happy for him. He’s looking forward to the next step in his life.”
In a sit-down with the Tribune, Pellico reflected on his more than three decades as an organist.
Getting started: “Right place, right time.”
Pellico has played for the Hawks since 1991.
“I had dark hair when I started,” he said.
Pellico had been the longtime organist for the Chicago Cubs, and it was by chance he fell into the Hawks job — a story you can tell he just loves to retell.
A colleague asked him to fill in one night because of a scheduling conflict.
“I said I would be very glad to, but I don’t know too much about hockey music at the time,” he said. “But (the person said) ‘Don’t worry about it. When they’re not playing hockey, play a song. When they’re playing hockey, stop.’”
After the game, Pellico and a friend he invited went to the concourse because Pellico wanted a souvenir.
The friend crossed paths with a couple, who said, “‘Boy, did I like the music tonight.’ … So my friend went over there, says, ‘Would you like to see the organist? He’s buying a souvenir.’ And they said, ‘Yes.’”
Pellico went over to meet them.
“They were very complimentary, very nice,” he said. “They said they haven’t heard the organ played that way since Al Melgard originally was the organist from way back when (from 1930 to 1974). I say, ‘How lucky can I be? I studied with Al when I was in high school.’”
Pellico invited the couple to attend one of his concerts, and had them write their names and phone number, he said, looking down at an imaginary piece of paper in his hands.
“I’m walking out of the stadium, I’m asking my friend — ‘Who are Bill and Alice Wirtz?’ Well, they were the owners. And as it went on, they wanted me to be the organist there, and everything worked out fine. …
“Crazy story. Right place, right time.”
Working with a couple of greats: “I can follow him with my eyes closed.”
Pellico played his first three seasons on a giant Barton pipe organ, which was sold to businessman Phil Maloof once the Bulls and Hawks moved to the United Center.
But during that time at “The Old Stadium,” Pellico accompanied Chicago legend Wayne Messmer on the national anthem.
“They would shoot the camera on him, of course, and he would be singing, and my back would be to the camera, because I don’t know if you can see, the organ is so big that you couldn’t begin to see over it,” Pellico said. “Believe it or not, you’re in this room, that physical (organ) console was almost as big as this room.
“Six keyboards. Eight hundred switches. So you couldn’t see over it or around it, so you played with your back to the ice with a mirror, watching the game backwards all night.”
After Messmer, the Hawks cycled through anthem singers before landing on Jim Cornelison.
For years, announcer Gene Honda has invited United Center patrons to stand, if they are able, as “organist Frank Pellico and soloist Jim Cornelison perform ‘The Star-Spangled Banner.’”
“After all these years, I can follow him with my eyes closed, which is the biggest reason I remained here,” Pellico said.
He’s learned over the years there are nuances to being a sports organist that many traditional musicians don’t know.
It’s difficult for an organist “to just come in, sit down and follow Jim,” Pellico said. “Because you have to follow the way he wants to sing — a little faster, a little slower — hang on to that note longer than you think. But we can do it together with our eyes closed.”
Making the switch: “It’s very easy to let her take it over.”
Marcotte signed on as Pellico’s backup for the 2018-19 season.
When the pandemic paused the league, her importance increased.
“We all had to have an understudy in case something happened to you and you got COVID,” Pellico said.
Since then, “I trained her note for note,” he said. “She wrote down on her tablet everything you do at a (puck) drop, everything you do when they get a goal, everything you do here, everything you do there. And over the years she’s been here, she’s just grown to be very comfortable with it.
“So it’s very easy to let her take it over.”
Pellico eased her in. He played two periods and she played one. She played two periods, and he played one.
By the end, he was just playing the national anthem for Cornelison.
“I decided that’ll be a nice way of ending my career,” Pellico said. “I will come and do the national anthem, and then Carrie can take over. And that’s how we kind of finished it off.”
Playing the standards: “It’s like that to this day.”
Die-hard Hawks fans know:
If the Hawks win, Pellico plays The Fratellis’ “Chelsea Dagger.”
If the Hawks lose, Pellico plays Crystal Gayle’s “Don’t It Make My Brown Eyes Blue.”
If you lingered long enough, Pellico (and later Marcotte) played whatever tickled the fancy. Sometimes it had been Frank Sinatra’s “That’s Life,” he said, but he always ended it with (fittingly) Sinatra’s “My Way.”
“I play a couple of songs while (fans are) walking out, but to close the organ down, it was ‘My Way.’ … And it’s like that to this day, even if I do a concert,” he said.
Humbled by fans: “I’m only an organist!”
On Sunday night, Pellico marveled at one fan’s homage.
“I just had somebody come in with a black jersey with my name and number on the back that wanted me to sign it,” he said. “Now you can’t beat that. I’m only an organist!”
He recalled how fans at a Hawks convention queued to get his autograph on a picture or jersey.
“Oh, my God, they would line up like at the Hilton,” he said. “We always had conventions at the Hilton, and I’d be downstairs. They’d bring an organ, and I’d play and play and play and play and play, and then I would take a break.
“There was an enormous line. And you would just turn around and sign anything they wanted.”
During Pellico’s tenure, the Hawks have passed from generation to generation of Wirtzes.
“The owners, going all the way back to the Stadium, I was treated like family,” he said. “The new owners? Treated like family.
“The respect they gave me for my talent.”
What now? “Whatever else comes in.”
Pellico had been semi-retired for several seasons, so on many of those nights, he played the anthem and went home.
“I was still enjoying going out to breakfast and dinner with friends — that’s the most important thing — and watching ‘Judge Judy’ on TV. Whatever else comes in.”
Pellico said he’s never taken a vacation in the last two decades or more.
“You’re always here during the season (when) people are going away, when it’s cold out in the winter,” he said. “And when it’s time for summer, none of my friends want to go anywhere.
“So I don’t even go out and do anything,” he laughed.
